1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of mobile communication devices and, more particularly, to entering musical data into such devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
The ability to customize and/or personalize a mobile communication device to suit one's own needs and personality has become a significant factor in distinguishing one type of mobile device from another. Many mobile devices, for example mobile phones, messaging devices, or MP3 players, allow users to apply different face plates having different color schemes according to the user's own taste.
Another method of personalizing mobile devices involves the customization of ring tones. Many mobile devices store a variety of different ring tones in memory, allowing the user to choose a preferred or favorite ring tone. Users also can associate distinctive ring tones with different events such as incoming calls, meeting reminders, alarms, and the like. Typically, the available ring tones of a mobile device can be supplemented by downloading additional ring tones from sources such as the Internet.
Still, other varieties of mobile devices allow users to enter or program custom melodies as ring tones. These mobile devices typically allow a user to enter single note melodies. That is, the programmed musical data is not polyphonic. If a device does allow the user to program harmonies, i.e. playing more than one note at the same time, users must program one melody and then layer a second melody. As such, users are prevented from entering harmonic structures such as intervals and/or musical chords in a user-friendly and musical way. Moreover, the interfaces used by such mobile devices lack any resemblance to conventional musical instruments. No existing mobile communication device provides a user-friendly and musical way of entering or programming musical data.